“Non-Local Borrowing” and Wisconsin
State Law

Residents: individuals
who live within the boundaries of a municipality or county which operates
a legal public library.

Non-residents: individuals
who live in municipalities without legal public libraries.

Types of Library Borrowing

Within the Community
(Resident Borrowing): residents of a municipality using their own library.

Within a County,
and Across Adjacent County Lines (Non-resident
Borrowing): residents of municipalities without libraries using libraries
within their county or an adjacent county.

From One Library Community
to Another Library Community (Crossover Borrowing): residents of
a municipality with a library who use a library in a community other than
their own. These may be within the same county or across county lines.

Across County Lines (non
adjacent): (Non-resident and Crossover Borrowing): residents from
a county using a library in a county that is not adjacent to that county.

How the Statutes Address Each Category

Reimbursement generally: payments for non-residents or crossover borrowing
are made to libraries, not to municipalities in which the library resides.

Within the Community:
[43.52(2)] “Every public library shall be free for the use of the inhabitants
of the municipality by which it is established and maintained...”

Within a County, and Across
Adjacent County Lines: [43.12] Each library is to be reimbursed
an amount equal to at least 70% of the library's unit cost to circulate
an item for each item borrowed by non-residents without libraries. Exception:
Counties which maintain consolidated county libraries are not required
to reimburse other libraries.

From One Library
Community to Another Library Community: [43.17(6)—library system
boards, 43.52 (4)—municipal library boards, 43.57 (1)(d)— consolidated
county library boards, 43.57(3)—county boards, and 43.60 (1)—municipal
library boards] Various boards have the authority to contract with library
organizations in and out of the state to provide or receive library services.

Across County Lines (non adjacent):

If they are in the same
system: [43.11(3)(c)] The approved county plan for library
service must assure access to any public library in the system for
any county resident, and must provide for reimbursement for that access.

If they are in different
systems: [43.17(11)(b) through (e)] A library in one
library system may refuse to honor the valid borrowers’ cards from
a library in an adjacent library system if, in the most recent year
in which the public library honored such cards, the reimbursement
in the previous year is less than the adjusted cost incurred in honoring
that card. The adjusted cost is calculated by determining the actual
cost for each loan, and multiplying that amount by the total number,
less 500, of loans that year to the adjacent library system.